Continually check object status

[futileissue at gmail.com]

Beginner, so please bare with me.  I'm not sure what to call what it
is I'm looking for.

If I have an object class, let's call it "Creature":

class Creature:
    def __init__(self, status):
        self.status = "happy"

    def change_status(self, new_status):
        self.status = new_status

    def print_status(self):
        print self.status

I would like to be able to print out the Creature's status every 20
seconds.  Let's say I use a script like this:

import time
while True:
    time.sleep(20)
    Creature.print_status()

But, while cycling through printing the status, I would like to be
able to update Creature.status to something new.

I might be approaching this from the wrong direction entirely.  Thanks
for your input.